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Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee, 29
July - 9 August 2002 : NGO Bulletins :Disability Negotiations Bulletin #8
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Today's Weather Forecast Mostly sunny |
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Exchange Rate 10 US Dollars |
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Ad Hoc Committee
Meeting |
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| 9:00 - 9:45am & 1:00 - 1:45pm | Disability Caucus | Conference Room D |
| 10am - 1pm & 3pm - 6pm | Ad Hoc Committee Meeting | Conference Room 4 |
| 2:30 pm | NGO Briefing Chairman |
Conference Room D |
Thanks to the following organizations for providing translations: French Japanese Spanish |
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SPECIAL THANKS Sponsorship for today’s Disability Negotiations Bulletin was provided by Council of Canadians with Disabilities. |
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Open Letter to the Delegates
Human Rights Database
Torture and Other Ill-Treatment
The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)
Open Letter to the Delegates
There can be no doubt that this first meeting of the Ad-hoc Committee has presented important opportunities, and challenges. The international disability community, both represented here by the caucus formed at this meeting, and the wider community that is following closely the work of the Committee from afar, is eager to acknowledge the progress that has been made.
That so much has been achieved so quickly stands testament to the various nations that have shown their commitment to this process, and, of course, to their citizens with disabilities, by taking a full and active role within the Committee.
We should also proudly acknowledge the formidable efforts of the disabled community itself. The hours worked, the alliances formed and the phenomenal determination to succeed, which has been clear from the outset, shows that our community is, in fact, a powerful agent for change.
There can be no denying that, despite the long road traveled by persons with disabilities in order to reach this point, we remain a long way from the finishing line. As we have already witnessed, progress toward a Convention can be disrupted without warning and with dramatic results. The challenge for the disability movement is to fully engage grassroots involvement – including individuals with disabilities – and to ensure that national governments understand how much this convention means to us.
Whilst it is obviously (that we have clearly established) the urgent need for more effective protection of our fundamental human rights and freedoms our efforts have also concentrated on mainstreaming the disability issue. We are engaged not simply in the development of an effective Convention to protect the human rights of persons with disabilities, but reminding the international community of the high ideals that it has already established for itself:
‘… recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world… Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948’
Human Rights Database
For the past three years, Disability Awareness in Action [DAA] – an international disability and human rights network, based in London (UK) – has been compiling a database on human rights abuses against disabled people on behalf of the international disability community.
In addition to preparing regular reports on the evidence contained on the database, a large number of disabled people’s organizations have contacted us, to obtain relevant information for their campaigns with national and regional governments. DAA would be delighted to respond to specific requests for such information from other disabled people’s organizations.
Finally, individual disabled people and their organizations have been a vital source of information for the database. If you come across a report – for example in a newspaper, article or academic paper – that provides reliable information of human rights abuse against people with disabilities, please send us a copy, together with full details of the publication from which it was obtained (publication name, page number(s), author, date of publication and publisher).
DAA,
11 Belgrave Road,
London SW1V 1RB,
United Kingdom.
Telephone: + 44 207 834 04477 E-mail: research@daa.org.uk
Torture and Other Ill-Treatment
Major human rights treaties recognize the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, a principle that is, in any case, customary international law. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to torture and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment and violations against them may go unnoticed given their frequent occurrence in institutionalized settings or other places of detention. In interpreting State obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee has concluded that States have a clear responsibility for human rights violations that occur in private institutions for people with disabilities.
Example: At Shtime, an institution for people with mental disabilities in Kosovo, there is one room on the mens ward where a group of 10-15 men with intellectual disabilities spend all day sitting on benches doing nothing, with staff constantly watching them to keep them seated.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI) 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. No. 16 at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316, (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force Mar. 23, 1976
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, G.A. Res. 39/46, Annex 39, U.N. GAOR Supp. No. 51 at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51, entered into force June 26, 1987
Article 2
- Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevents acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
- No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political stability or any other political emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
- An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.
Article 14
- Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture, his dependents shall be entitled to compensation.
- Nothing in this article shall affect any right of the victim or other persons to compensation which may exist under national law.
Sexual Exploitation and Related Abuses
Sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and domestic abuse are all forms of abuse to which people with disabilities can be particularly vulnerable, despite the fact that existing human rights provisions provide the right to be free from such abuse. Institutional and other settings frequently expose people with disabilities to abusive individuals, at the same time as leaving the abused individuals with no adequate means of redress to halt the abuse or bring the abusers to justice. The likelihood of abuse is even greater for those who may not be in a position to fully recognize some subtler forms of emotional or psychological abuse due to the nature of their disability (e.g., developmental or intellectual disabilities).
Example: A 1995 study commissioned by the Canadian National Association for Community Living found that across the country 83% of women with disabilities will be sexually abused in their lifetime.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 44/25, Annex 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. No. 49 at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49, entered into force Sept. 2, 1990
Article 34
States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate
national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:
- The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
- The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful practices;
- The exploitative use of children in pornographic performance and materials.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
G.A. Res. 34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. No. 46 at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into
force Sept. 3, 1981
Article 6
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all
forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.
U.N. Standard Rules
Rule 9 specifically calls for States to take measures to decrease the incidences
of abuse, and to educate people on how to identify victims of abuse and take action to
report such abuse.
| We would like to thank the United States delegation to the Ad Hoc Committee for finding a solution, on its own initiative, for a foreign NGO participant who was effectively excluded from the Ad Hoc Committee meeting because the antiquated audio technology in the UN meeting room is not hearing aid compatible. |
The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)
Established in Rome, Italy, in 1951, WFD is an international, non-governmental central organisation of national associations of Deaf people, with a current membership of associations in 125 countries worldwide. Associate members, international members and individual members also make up WFD’s membership base.
WFD’s philosophy is one of equality, human rights and respect for all people, regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual preference, age and all other differences. WFD supports and promotes in its work the many United Nations conventions on human rights, with a focus on Deaf people who use sign language, and their friends and family. WFD works with the aim of solidarity and unity to make the world a better place.
WFD’s current priorities include the recognition and promotion of sign language, bilingual/multilingual Deaf education, Deaf people in developing countries, the strengthening of national and regional Deaf associations, and the establishment of such associations where none currently exist.
WFD has consultative status in the United Nations (UN) system, including the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the International Labor Office (ILO); and the World Health Organization (WHO). WFD also co-operates closely with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and has representatives on the Panel of Experts on the UN Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. WFD is a member of the International Disability Alliance (IDA).
World Federation of the Deaf
General Secretariat
PO Box 65
00401 Helsinki
FINLAND
Email: info@wfdnews.org
Website: www.wfdnews.org
This Bulletin was sponsored by the following group of non-governmental organizations, who are committed to the development of a strong and effective international convention on the human rights of people with disabilities and a process for its development that is transparent, inclusive and participatory. If your organization would like to add its name to this group, please contact Elaine Belmear at ebelmear@att.net. If you have suggestions for the Bulletin, please contact a member of the Publication Staff.
- American Association of People with Disabilities
- American Council of the Blind
- Center for International Rehabilitation
- China Disabled Persons’ Federation
- Council of Canadians with Disabilities
- Disability Awareness in Action
- Disabled Peoples’ International
- European Disability Forum
- Inclusion International
- Inter-American Institute on Disability
- Israeli Association Against Psychiatric Assault
- Japanese Federation of the Deaf
- Landmine Survivors Network
- Mental Disability Rights International
- Not Dead Yet
- North Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre Inc.
- Rehabilitation International
- People Who
- Support Coalition International
- United States International Council on Disabilities
- World Blind Union
- World Federation of the Deaf
- World Federation of the Deafblind
- World Federation of Mental Health
- World Institute on Disability
- World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
Publication staff:
Joelle Balfe, Campaign Development Group, USA
Elaine Belmear, Landmine Survivors Network, USA
Rosangela Berman-Bieler, Inter-American Institute on Disability, Brazil
Steven Estey, Disabled Peoples’ International, Canada
Richard Light, Disability Awareness in Action, UK, (DPI Representative)
Janet E. Lord, Landmine Survivors Network, USA
Kicki Nordstrom, World Blind Union, Sweden